Only connect: Anthony Trollope and Angela Thirkell

... 'Henry, what is the number of people out of work at Hogglestock? Mr. Winter is interested in unemployment.'
      'About three hundred, I'm afraid, since the boiler works closed down,' said Mr. Keith.
      'There!' said Mrs. Keith.
      'They are doing all they can for them in Barchester,' said Mr. Keith. 'The Dean's grandfather used to be a curate at Hogglestock when it was a very poor agricultural community, and Crawley has always felt a special interest in it. What touched him very much as that some of the Easter flowers in the cathedral were offered by the men there, who had grown them in their enforced leisure. The committee on which the Dean and I serve had provided garden tools and seeds.'
      'They asked for bread and you gave them stones,' said Philip sternly.
      'Not stones, seeds,' said Mrs. Keith. 'I wonder, Mr. Winter, if you are related to my Uncle Andrew. He was the youngest of my grandfather's second family. My father, who was the youngest of the third family, was very fond of him. ...' 

I've collected at least one (ahem) edition of all of Angela's Thirkell's Barsetshire novels, and a year or two ago, I decided that I wanted to finally finish reading the rest of them {in order, of course}. Soon after that, when I was trying to figure out where I had left off {about half way through, I think}, I decided it would be more fun to just start over. I haven't gotten very far (just High Rising and Wild Strawberries), but this was a good week to treat myself to Summer Half and hopefully keep going on from there.

And speaking of treats, now that we've read the #6barsets, I remember the Dean's grandfather, the Rev. Josiah Crawley, the miserable curate who was falsely accused of stealing a check. It will be fun to find more Trollopian allusions and place names and ancestors ...